---
name: "Catherine Hardwicke"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/catherine-hardwicke"
fi1m_id: "catherine-hardwicke"
imdb_id: "nm0362566"
tmdb_id: 19850
wikidata_id: "Q229598"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "21 October 1955"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 6
average_fi1m_score: 66
average_as: "director"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-10-04T23:28:41.614272+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Catherine Hardwicke

## Identity

Catherine Hardwicke

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/catherine-hardwicke
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** catherine-hardwicke
- **IMDb ID:** nm0362566
- **TMDB ID:** 19850
- **Wikidata ID:** Q229598
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Hardwicke, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q229598, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0362566/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/19850

Director. Born 21 October 1955 in Cameron, Texas, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 21 October 1955, Cameron, Texas, USA
- **Active:** 1993–2016
- **Also known as:** Helen Catherine Hardwicke 
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 6: 3 directing, 3 crew
- **Frequently works with:** [Kurt Russell](https://film.one/person/kurt-russell.md), [Roxann Dawson](https://film.one/person/roxann-dawson.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 66, as director, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 69 (2), 2000s 64 (2), 2010s 64 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 66 to 59 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 0 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Action & Adventure 1, Fantasy 1, Romance 1, Western 1
- **Screen time:** 2 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $394m across 1 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Hardwicke, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q229598, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0362566/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/19850

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*This Is Us*](https://film.one/tv/this-is-us.md) (76)
- **Peacock:** [*Twilight*](https://film.one/film/twilight.md) (70)
- **Paramount+:** [*Vanilla Sky*](https://film.one/film/vanilla-sky.md) (58)
- **Tubi:** [*Posse*](https://film.one/film/posse.md) (58)
- **AMC+:** [*Hell on Wheels*](https://film.one/tv/hell-on-wheels.md) (52)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Catherine Hardwicke

> Catherine Hardwicke takes young people's feelings seriously, even when they arrive with vampires attached. We value her attention to young women, while *Twilight* shows how much more convincing she can be about longing than danger.

A school crush gets taken seriously in Catherine Hardwicke's *Twilight* (2008). Wanting someone is allowed to occupy the film, and the director does not interrupt to reassure adults that she knows better. We rate her for that respect: she makes a good teenage romance out of material whose vampire threat is much harder to believe.

That interest was there in her directorial debut, *Thirteen* (2003), co-written with Nikki Reed. Working with a teenage co-writer put a young person's experience close to the writing, rather than leaving it entirely to adult recollection. *Lords of Dogtown* (2005), about the 1970s Venice Beach skate scene, continued her attention to youth subcultures. By *Twilight*, she was bringing that intimate approach to fantasy, where a recognisable feeling could hold together a less convincing piece of genre filmmaking.

Kristen Stewart makes *Twilight*'s romance feel human, and Hardwicke is right to let it carry so much of the film. We were touched by the longing, because she allows a school crush to matter without inviting us to laugh at it. The dialogue can still be clumsy; taking teenagers seriously does not make every line they are given convincing. The uncertain effects are harder to excuse when the film needs danger. Hardwicke gets us interested in the attraction, but cannot make the vampires equally persuasive.

The later path takes her through the fantasy of *Red Riding Hood* (2011) and the comedy-drama of *Mafia Mamma* (2023), with female-led, personal storytelling remaining a recurring interest. Those changes of genre make it unhelpful to treat teenage drama as the whole of her work. But *Twilight* is a useful place to start with what we value in her direction: she takes the young people seriously, even when the dialogue needs another pass. Go for the romance; expect rather less from the threat.

## Biography

Catherine Hardwicke is an American film director and production designer. She began her career in production design, working on features including *Tombstone* (1993), *Tank Girl* (1995) and *Three Kings* (1999).

Hardwicke made her directorial debut with *Thirteen* (2003), which she co-wrote with Nikki Reed. Subsequent films include *Lords of Dogtown* (2005), *The Nativity Story* (2006), *Twilight* (2008) and *Red Riding Hood* (2011). She has also directed episodes of series such as *This Is Us* and an instalment of *Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities* (2022).

Hardwicke studied architecture at the University of Texas at Austin before attending UCLA film school. *Twilight* achieved the largest opening weekend for a film directed by a woman at the time of its release.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org.*

## On Fi1m (6)

### Directed (3) — the average rests on these

- *This Is Us* (2016), Fi1m 76, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/this-is-us.md)
- *Hell on Wheels* (2011), Fi1m 52, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/hell-on-wheels.md)
- *Twilight* (2008), Fi1m 70, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/twilight.md)

### Crew (3)

- *Vanilla Sky* (2001), Fi1m 58, Production design, Production Design — [page](https://film.one/film/vanilla-sky.md)
- *Three Kings* (1999), Fi1m 80, Production Design, Production design — [page](https://film.one/film/three-kings.md)
- *Posse* (1993), Fi1m 58, Production Design, Production design — [page](https://film.one/film/posse.md)

## Complete filmography (54)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Street Smart* (2026), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Under the Bridge* (2024), series, Director
- *Prisoner's Daughter* (2023), Director
- *Mafia Mamma* (2023), Director
- *Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities* (2022), series, Director
- *Tell It Like a Woman* (2022), Director, Writer
- *Don't Worry Darling* (2022), Executive Producer
- *Don't Look Deeper* (2020), series, Director, Executive Producer
- *Stargirl* (2020), Executive Producer
- *Miss Bala* (2019), Executive Producer, Director
- *The Black Ghiandola* (2017), Director
- *Eyewitness* (2016), series, Director
- *This Is Us* (2016), series, Director — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/tv/this-is-us.md)
- *Dirty Lies* (2016), Executive Producer
- *Miss You Already* (2015), Director, Executive Producer
- *We the Economy: 20 Short Films You Can't Afford to Miss* (2014), Director
- *Reckless* (2014), series, Executive Producer
- *Plush* (2013), Writer, Director, Producer
- *Low Winter Sun* (2013), series, Director
- *Hell on Wheels* (2011), series, Director — Fi1m 52, [page](https://film.one/tv/hell-on-wheels.md)
- *Fly Away* (2011), Executive Producer
- *Red Riding Hood* (2011), Director, Executive Producer
- *The Twilight Saga Soundtracks, Vol 1: Music Videos and Performances* (2010), Director
- *Twilight* (2008), Director — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/twilight.md)
- *The Nativity Story* (2006), Executive Producer, Director
- *Lords of Dogtown* (2005), Director
- *Thirteen* (2003), Director, Writer
- *Laurel Canyon* (2003), Production Design
- *Vanilla Sky* (2001), Production Design — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/vanilla-sky.md)
- *Antitrust* (2001), Production Design
- *Three Kings* (1999), Production Design — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/three-kings.md)
- *The Newton Boys* (1998), Production Design
- *Mad City* (1997), Production Design
- *SubUrbia* (1997), Production Design, Second Unit Director
- *2 Days in the Valley* (1996), Production Design
- *Tank Girl* (1995), Production Design
- *Car 54, Where Are You?* (1994), Production Design
- *Tombstone* (1993), Production Design
- *Freaked* (1993), Production Design
- *Posse* (1993), Production Design — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/posse.md)
- *Passed Away* (1992), Production Design
- *Mr. Destiny* (1990), as Art Direction
- *The Assassin* (1990), Production Design
- *Brain Dead* (1990), Production Design
- *Martians Go Home* (1989), Production Design
- *I'm Gonna Git You Sucka* (1988), Production Design
- *Tapeheads* (1988), Production Design
- *Hunk* (1987), as Art Direction
- *Thrashin'* (1986), as Catherine Hardwicke · Production Design
- *Puppy Does the Gumbo* (1984), Director, Writer
- *Hansel and Gretel* (1983), as Modeling
- *Heathen*, Director
- *A French Pursuit*, Director
- *If You Could See Me Now*, Director

## Gallery

- ![Catherine Hardwicke](https://film.one/media/person/88612/gallery-41ea3d476640.jpg) Catherine Hardwicke — M. Hodge, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Catherine_Hardwicke_%26_Madison.JPG/1280px-Catherine_Hardwicke_%26_Madison.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Director Catherine Hardwicke at the premiere of Miss You Already, 2015 Toronto Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/88612/gallery-f8a216c3ce05.jpg) Director Catherine Hardwicke at the premiere of Miss You Already, 2015 Toronto Film Festival — GabboT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Miss_You_Already_02_%2821376628752%29_%282%29.jpg/1280px-Miss_You_Already_02_%2821376628752%29_%282%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Director Catherine Hardwicke at the premiere of Miss You Already, 2015 Toronto Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/88612/gallery-81b74b6b1cf3.jpg) Director Catherine Hardwicke at the premiere of Miss You Already, 2015 Toronto Film Festival — GabboT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Miss_You_Already_03_%2821199835088%29_%282%29.jpg/1280px-Miss_You_Already_03_%2821199835088%29_%282%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Director Catherine Hardwicke at the premiere of Miss You Already, 2015 Toronto Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/88612/gallery-4ccd52aaec94.jpg) Director Catherine Hardwicke at the premiere of Miss You Already, 2015 Toronto Film Festival — GabboT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Miss_You_Already_04_%2821376864792%29_%282%29.jpg/1280px-Miss_You_Already_04_%2821376864792%29_%282%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Catherine Hardwicke](https://film.one/media/person/88612/gallery-189e9fa026c1.jpg) Catherine Hardwicke — Image via TMDB
- ![Catherine Hardwicke](https://film.one/media/person/88612/gallery-9a765064c552.jpg) Catherine Hardwicke — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Other awards — 1 won

- Dorothy Arzner Directors Award 2009: Dorothy Arzner Directors Award (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/catherine-hardwicke